This Is Where I Woo You With Pictures Cause I Don't Have A Lot To Say....

First of all sorry for the general lack of posting but...

 the peanut is sick again.

 It seems like just a cold but the congestion is really getting to her.

 She's needed to be held most nights just so she can breath right. 

So you can imagine how tired I am!

She is quite the amazing child...

 Even though she's been so sick she's taught herself how to sit on a lap with no help!

 She's really happy about trust me!

Amber saw her neuromuscular neurologist this past week. They agreed she has been doing really well for being so sick and recommended she get more PT. As much as everyday (yikes) or as little as twice a week. They also want her to get into an aqua therapy program and a hippo therapy (horses) program. 

I've looked into a few places. So, this week and next we'll be talking about it more with her pedi and EI person and hopefully making some decisions about it. I'm also praying since she grew that half inch we can get  her walker!! 

Amber's new trick is, if you hold her while you're eating she steals your food.

 This is new favorite thing to steal.

 Yup that's mushy half of Peep.

She doesn't really eat it eat it but more sucks on it till it's really gross. 

 We've also been doing a lot of spring cleaning around here!

 We rearranged the living room and all the baby stuff has ended up here : )

Amber's toys are now in the bottom two shelves and a basket next to the book shelf. Her books are now on the shelf she's laying on in the picture. I also did some major cleaning in her bedroom! It was really sad going through all of her clothing. Her preemie clothes used to be so big to me and now they're unbelievable tiny, especially the socks!! I don't have any pics of her room I need to make her some curtains and then I'll finally have some finished nursery pictures to show you all! (It's only taken me a year and a half) 

This is something else that's on my "To Do" list;

 take some nice pictures of Amber in all of her beautiful dresses! Oh and get her another hair cut!

I think that's all!

This is how she keeps tabs on all of us

Amber Out And About!

 First of all I have to say,

 Amber loves to go anywhere.

She gets so excited when we put her in her car seat. 

She even tries to strap herself in, it's so cute!

She loved the "fort" I made her too.

Yesterday my parents and I took Amber to the 2011 Boston Flower and Garden Show.

It was so much fun! The theme this year was container gardening. Every display had to have some sort of container in it. Some were made entirely of containers and some had a few containers here and there. Most of them took to the challenge and used very nontraditional containers such as half an egg shell, a skull or a drilled hole in a rock, just for some examples. Others dressed up the traditional window box or pot. No one disappointed! 

 Amber had so much fun looking at everything!

 I really liked this moss lady!

 The Blue Hill display had a little owl. Amber loved it!

 They also had amateur competition through different garden clubs.

This one in particular was butterflies made completely of plant matter.

 There were lots of cool fountains, rock formations, ponds and any type of garden you could make!

 Above and below are part of our favorite display made by the Newport Garden Show.

They had a table setting, chandeliers and this lady all completely made of plant matter and the detail on them was amazing. She had earrings, buttons down the back of her dress and a train! 

There was so much to look at we really enjoyed ourselves! 

For more of my pictures you can look Here

Starting Spring Right!

We're doing things right and starting off this spring in good health. Yes, Amber is finally 100% back to her normal self! 

Yesterday's Genetics follow up went really well. Amber was in good spirits and other than her gum over growth nothing else has changed! Yay!! She had her usual blood work done to check the levels of her iron, potassium, white blood cells, electrolytes and some other things. Her last couple of results have been pretty out of whack and we think that might have been some of the reason why she had been so sick. Thankfully the results of yesterday came back showing almost everything has started to come back to normal levels! Amber weighed less this visit (but she's been sick) and she's grown half an inch! Which we're really excited about because she should be able to get her walker now!

The other awesome thing about yesterday was being able to meet with another I-Cell mom!!

She has twin boys with I-Cell and we met through a Facebook support group. She doesn't live in our area but was doing some work up here and we couldn't pass up the chance to meet her! It was so nice to be able to chat with another mom who's going through the same things as us. Someday I'd love to have Amber and boys meet, I think they would have so much fun together! She has a blog too HERE, the boys are sooo cute!!

We had a GORGEOUS day here today!! Nice warm weather, in the 60's. Amber was able to enjoy some fresh air. She loves to be outside and thought it was really funny that her cat Boo could come out too! 

Amber also got to touch snow for the first time today! I know, it's weird to think about, it was warm but we still have snow in most places. We're looking forward to more warm weather these next days!!

Amber wanted to wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

(this was supposed to be posted sooner)

Miss Amber: "I am not a baby"

Can you believe that our little Miss Amber is going to be 18 months on Friday!!!! 

I can't! 

Amber would like everyone to know that even though she looks like a little baby she is no baby!

When she's not feeling sick she is quite the energetic, busy bee!

She plays her own games and thinks everything is funny.

 Anything she can get her hands on she'll play peek-a-boo with, including her oxygen cord.

 She recognizes people in pictures (She's looking at a picture of her, Grammy and Pappy).

We're working on a new form of communication using pictures of her things. She's supposed to pick the picture of the thing she wants to get that item but right now she is more interested in playing with the pictures than playing with or using that item. 

She is getting so strong! She's sitting really well on the couch and on laps. Her body control when you're holding her has improved so much. We really don't have worry as much when we hold her. She can spend a long time in her jumper now and usually prefers to be more upright during the day. She is also doing really well in her walker. She is still only going backwards but can now turn herself to the side and rock back and forth in it. One night before she was sick she backed herself into the bathroom off our kitchen about three times and was very content to sit in there and talk to herself, it was so funny!

This is one of Amber's favorite things. A "taggy" blanket made by one of my cousins. 

Somehow she always manages to get that certain loop in her mouth. 

She loves to stuff a loop and a bunch of the blanket in her mouth and talk to us.

Her other new favorite toy is a baby bottle. She loves to feed her baby and this puppy.

 However Pooh Bear does not get a bottle. 

She makes the funnies "No mommy" face when I feed Pooh Bear this way or tell her to.

She still loves her "beads". Her fine motor skills are really coming along. 

When she first got this toy at Christmas she would hit the beads to move them or try to move them with her hand closed.

Now she grabs a bead, pulls it to the top and lets it fall.

Sometimes it takes a few tries but she's so happy when she does it right!

She finds humor in everything!

 She squeals and screams in happiness now, I have to get it on video because it is so adorable! 

Everyday she seems to be doing or saying something new, I can't seem to update quick enough!

Her speech is improving. She has so many sounds and "Amber words".

She really is more of a toddler than baby now. When I'm changing her diaper I'll ask her to lift her legs or put them down and she will! She knows where eyes, nose, mouth, feet and hands are on us, baby and herself. She just needs to learn "no" :)

She is moving on the floor more too! She can plant her feet and lift up her butt, which doesn't really move her too much but it's really cute! Her rolling back and forth, leg lifting and stretching is really impressive now too. 

What a difference between this year and last year!

Tomorrow we're in Boston for a follow up genetics appointment. Our break has ended and we'll following up with all the specialists this month and next.

Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: Coloring

Back From Vacation

Hello! We had a wonderful time visiting our family in PA and had a very hard time leaving!

Amber loves being the center of attention and having so many people to play with her. We were there around Valentine's Day and had tons of fun making valentines and decorating cookies! Luke surprised us and came down for the weekend! 

Amber loved watching her aunt and uncle's basketball games and making friends with the other little kids there.

We always enjoy spending time with our family but it never seems like enough time! 

We've been back for about two weeks now. Our first week back is always hard. Amber gets so used to not being by herself and sharing a room with mommy that it takes her a while to be happy by herself again! 

Last week my parents came back! 

Unfortunately Amber came down with a really nasty virus last week and had a really rough weekend. Thankfully she seems to finally be getting better. 

I feel really bad that I took most of February off! Amber has so many new cute things she's been doing that I have to fill you in on. We also have a lot of follow up appointments to go to this month and next.